CHAPTER 3 - BOTTLES

From top to bottom, bottles of various kinds filled the shelves to their capacity. Hardy's face lit up when he began to pull down his dandies and gave mini stories of their meaning to him, like they were his friends. Hardy had commemorative whiskey bottles (unopened); Avon bottles galore; empty wine bottles; and cut glass decanters. From the humble vinegar pitcher to the antique blown glass masterpieces, those shelves groaned from bottles overload, but Hardy grinned with pleasure. The boys liked bottles, too. Roger had an Old Crow bottle with a brass holder that allowed it to be tipped for filling a jigger or a glass. Wayne had a beer can collection. Roger's Old Crow bottle would later be acquired by you-know-who.

Shortly after, they wanted Hardy to move on and he did. Back through his bachelor’s kitchen, they went into the front room and then took a right into the parlor. It had no sofas or chairs. Yet, Roger could have used a fainting couch. This was collector's sensory overload. The room had three large, round oak dining tables actually overflowing with antiques and collectibles of not only a young boy's fantasies, but of older collectors’ as well.

Where does one start to tell you the ecstasy Roger had from examining Hardy's treasure trove? Roger later said, "It reminded me of the movie, ‘National Treasure’, when Nicholas Cage takes a torch and lights the oil lamp, revealing the combination of the great treasures and wealth of the ancient past."

For the next two and a half hours, Roger probed the accumulated collection of Hardy H. Hurst as Hardy filled in with sidebars of memories past. On not just one or two, but on three tables, there were brass knuckles of various kinds, a brass spice boat with a monkey theme, and a headhunter's knife with a wicked curved scythe blade and handle of jade. There were handcuffs, thumb cuffs, billy clubs and other police collectibles, including many real badges of people Hardy met. It seemed Hardy had a flair for getting others to part with their personal effects of trade.

There was even a real shrunken head the size of a chihuahua's, but human. Sidebar: When Roger visited Hardy in the 60s, Hardy's daughter, Dorothy, was a missionary to Borneo, where cannibalism still existed. She sent this and other items to her dad, knowing they would be greatly appreciated. For Roger, the head was so scary he wouldn't pick it up, but the headhunter knife, he wielded with glee.

Hardy had three-fourths of a human thumb floating in a bottle of solution. While working on the railroad lines in the southern states, a man, with whom Hardy was working, had a pick accident and almost severed his thumb. Hardy told the guy he had better get the hanging thing cut off, but the man refused and wrapped his thumb tightly. Hardy told him to send him the thumb when it dropped off, and the man did. As far as the boys were concerned, they knew Hardy didn't make up stories because he had the artifacts to back them up.

Roger started to examine other items not found on or under the three tables but along the walls in layers where, in places, an extended arm cannot touch the wall. Roger found one more "I spy a treasure," something so cool. It was a horse's brass bridle bit in the shape of two six shot revolvers with the initials of the famous Buffalo Bill Cody. They were just casually laying there with other equestrian items like spurs, quirts, two saddles, etc. Following Roger’s gaze, Hardy told of how he obtained the bridle, originally owned by the founder of the Wild West Show. Hardy's stories were a treasure in themselves.